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My Summer Reading Wishlist

When your coursework requires you to read 400+ pages a week, you don't have a lot of time left over for leisurely reading. That's why I love summer! With a three-month break from reading textbooks, analytical essays, and course-related novels, I have time to catch up on some truly entertaining reads.

I always like a good Devil Wears Prada-style novel about the inner workings of a fashion magazine, and The Knockoffseems to be the 2015 version. It's also a battle of generations and a study of the changing nature of publishing. Fashion insiders are all talking about this book, so it must be good!

Ever since Gossip Girl went off the air three years ago, I've been in need of a new story about social climbing and East Coast elite. Everybody Riseis the story of a twentysomething girl looking to make it in the world of the über-rich and fancy, the outsider trying to fit in. I think we can all relate to wanting to live a life of extravagance and luxury, so this is sure to be an entertaining read.

Ani FaNelli, the protagonist of Knoll's novel, has been described as a modern-day female Don Draper, and the book is suggested for fans of Gone Girl, so expect plenty of secrets and mysteries transposed against a life of luxury and (seeming) success. Knoll is an editor at Cosmopolitan, too, which means Luckiest Girl Aliveshould have plenty of fun and glamour alongside the mysteries.

I'm already fifty pages into this intriguing read about a quietly unhappy suburban mother who disappears and the daughter determined to find her, and I am loving it. Where'd You Go, Bernadettehas been featured on many an Instagram as of late, so I'm happy I'm finally getting around to reading it myself. Much of the story is told through emails, receipts, memos, and other documents, so it makes for a quick beach read (literally, I read it on the beach this morning!).

Do we ever tire of the American Dream or the fascination with Hollywood? My guess is no, because Oh! You Pretty Thingsis an examination of how to make it in La La Land. Now that I'm in Los Angeles, I find books on the city's culture and obsession with celebrity highly intriguing, so Mahin's novel should be doubly fun to read.

The sequel to the much-talked-about Crazy Rich Asians, Kwan's second book follows Rachel to mainland China in search of her birth father. If Crazy Rich Asians was a juicy tell-all of the lives of Singapore's elite, than China Rich Girlfriendis an exploration of the upper echelons of Chinese society. Sounds like fun!

It seems like the trend of the summer is favorite childhood authors returning to the spotlight (Meg Cabot is releasing a new Princess Diaries book in celebration of the series' 15th anniversary, and the next book on my list is another sort-of sequel to a childhood fave). Judy Blume, the woman who guided many a teenage girl through adolescence, is back with a new novel. In the Unlikely Eventis a frame narrative about a fifteen year old girl living in 1950s America amidst the rise of rock and roll and the threat of communism. This book is nostalgia several times over; nostalgia for the fifties, and for adolescence, when we were young and reading Judy Blume novels for the first time.

You probably read To Kill a Mockingbirdin high school and fell in love with the story of Scout and Atticus Finch. It was the first book to open my eyes to the complicated injustices of the world and remains one of my all-time favorite novels. Now, fifty-five years after the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, we will be able to return to the world of Scout twenty years after the events of the first book. Technically Go Set a Watchmanwas written first, but publishers were more interested in Scout's childhood. It will be interesting to see if Go Set a Watchman can live up to the hype, but if it's even half as good as To Kill a Mockingbird I will be quite content.

If you loved Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia, you MUST read The Magicians series, which is a grown-up version of all your favorite childhood fantasy favorites. The Magician's Landis the final book in the trilogy and follows protagonist Quentin on a magical road of redemption. And now is the perfect time to binge-read the series, because SyFy is airing a TV show adaptation of The Magicians soon!